Cometitive Advantages

Competitive Advantage of Microsoft Corporation and My Self

Microsoft’s ambitions have been anything but small since its inception in the early 1980’s. Microsoft’s is the world’s number one software company and has controlled an overwhelming share of the personal computer operating system market. Microsoft’s products do not stop at just an operating system; the company supplies the world with a number of other products including their Office Software Suite, their video game console Xbox, CRM Applications, server and storage software, and Zune, their digital music player. The company has had acquisitions to bulk its presence in markets such as online advertising, mobile devices, and enterprise software. Throughout this paper, I will be discussing a little history Microsoft, their Technological Strategy, the company’s core competencies, industry dynamics, sourcing and innovation, and their strategy to protect their innovations.

Microsoft’s History

[pic]

Bill Gates founded Microsoft (originally named Micro-Soft) in 1975 after dropping out of Harvard at the age of 19 and teaming up with High School friend Paul Allen to sell a version of the programming language BASIC. Gates moved Microsoft to Seattle in 1979 and began developing software that let other write programs, thus the modern personal computer was born in 1980 when IBM choose Microsoft to write the operating system for its new machines. The company went public in 1986, and Gates became the industry’s first billionaire a year later. In 1995 antitrust concerns cost Gates a $1.5 Billion dollar acquisition of his personal finance. Later that year, Gates introduced the Microsoft Network that licensed the Java Web Programming Language from Sun and introduced its Internet Explorer Web browser, as well as launching

Expedia.com, its online travel site. After settling a lengthy lawsuit from Sun in 2001 for $20 Million dollars for allegations that Microsoft was creating an incompatible...